Kenya rapist jailed for 15 years

September 11, 2009 12:00 am

By CORRESPONDENT, NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 11 – Former Java Coffee House Managing Director John Wagner has been jailed for 15 years over three counts of defilement.

The former restaurateur was sentenced this morning by Senior Principal Magistrate Teresia Ngugi who found him guilty of the offences.

His co-accused Fetha Nyamweru and Judy Nyaguthie have been handed a ten year jail term each for subjecting the minors to prostitution.

The court put Wagner on his defence in March after finding that he had a case to answer against allegations that he defiled three primary school pupils at his Lavington home.

He was accused of drugging the minors before raping them in his bedroom and the three girls told the court that he sprayed them with a substance that tranquillised them.

In his defence, Mr Wagner, through lawyer Ian Maina, accused a group of human rights activists of allegedly asking for money as a condition for dropping the case.

During the trial a gynaecologist at the Nairobi Women’s hospital told the court that she examined two minors who had gone to the hospital claiming to have been defiled by Mr Wagner.

Dr Keta Mukombe, who appeared as the first prosecution witness in the case, told Nairobi Senior Principal Magistrate Teresia Ngugi that she received the two minors on different dates, each alleging that she had been defiled by Wagner in April this year.

Dr Mukombe told the court that the minors, aged 13 and 14, explained to her that they had been sexually assaulted by a white man at a house in Loresho, Nairobi after which they were paid Sh10, 000 and Sh8, 000 respectively for the alleged unprotected act.

"The minor (name withheld) said she had been assaulted by a ‘mzungu’ man (white man) who lives in Loresho," Dr Mukombe testified.

She claimed that the first girl was brought to the hospital by a local chief, whereas the other came in the company of an unnamed women rights’ group.

While cross-examining her, Mr Wagner’s lawyer, Mohammed Nyaoga, questioned the doctor whether she had verified the claims by the underage girls who she said had sought medical attention after a week.

Mr Nyaoga claimed that the doctor in her report dated June 18, made a ‘legal finding’ instead of a ‘medical finding’ after examination, when she concluded that the girls had been defiled, terming it unprofessional.

"Defilement is not a medical term, it is a legal term. Why would a professional doctor arrive at such a conclusion?" posed Nyaoga.